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More than $2 million in federal stimulus funds, administered by the State Department of Transportation, have been set aside to enable Tompkins County to purchase six transit buses for Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Inc. (TCAT).

Tompkins County and TCAT have been advised by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) that the agency has reserved $2,175,000 in Federal Transit Administration Section 5311 rural funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Tompkins County to purchase six clean-diesel 40-foot buses for TCAT.  As of two weeks ago, NYSDOT had been prepared to allocate about half that amount ($1.2 million) to purchase six lower-cost commuter buses, but since then TCAT General Manager Joe Turcotte and Tompkins County Chief Transportation Planner Dwight Mengel convinced NYSDOT to allocate the larger amount to underwrite the purchase of regular transit buses instead, so that the vehicles can be integrated efficiently into TCAT’s service and maintenance programs.

“This is truly great news,” says TCAT General Manager Turcotte. ”We thank NYSDOT for their financial support to accommodate our increasing rural ridership.  By using larger buses on our rural routes, our passengers will enjoy a safe and comfortable ride.”

Federal transit funding under the federal stimulus had already been set aside to support purchase of two hybrid electric-diesel buses for TCAT. Acquisition of those two vehicles, plus the six to be supported under the latest allocation, will enable TCAT to acquire a total of eight buses, achieving half of its 16-vehicle replacement goal.  The County Legislature last week authorized the County, on behalf of TCAT, to apply for the $1.4 million in transit funding allocated for the two hybrid electric-diesel buses, as well as three paratransit buses for Gadabout. Gadabout also will be able to replace three additional paratransit buses through other federal transit funding managed by NYSDOT.

“Investing in jobs in line with retooling for a viable economic future is fundamentally what the federal stimulus funding is all about,” notes Tompkins County Legislature Chair Mike Koplinka-Loehr.  “All Tompkins County residents will benefit from this much needed upgrade to our unique public transportation fleet needs for many years ahead.”

The County must apply to the Transportation Department for the $2.1 million in stimulus funding just reserved by the DOT.  The grant-filing deadline is April 15.

TCAT, Inc (Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Inc.) is a not-for-profit corporation that provides public transportation for Tompkins County, portions of Tioga County and a commuter service from Schuyler County to downtown Ithaca and Cornell.  TCAT transports over 3.3 million passengers every year covering a distance of more than 1.6 million miles.  The fleet of approximately 54 buses currently includes six hybrid electric-diesel buses.  TCAT also offers complementary ADA Paratransit services called Gadabout.

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